May

I’ve probably spent more of my life in Blue Java than I have in my own suite kitchen, so I’ve wasted a great deal of time staring at and connecting with the little cards stuck in the pastries. But I assume (hope) most of you guys have lives and haven’t really noticed how ridiculous some of them are. Here are some of my favorite ones, enjoy.

Claim to fame: Chief of Finance on GSSC and numerous arguments within council about funding this or that. S/o to Bwog’s Jennie and Romane for faithfully sitting through all the long meetings!

Where are you going? Squatting in my NYC apartment for as long as my visa will allow me. JK. Continuing research for a professor in the Economics department, and working for a documentary on Korean diaspora in Latin America.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2021?1) GSers are much cooler people than I ever imagined. Being a more “traditional” student in that I only took a gap year between my freshman year at the unfortunate institution downtown named New York University, before transferring to GS, I approached many of my fellow GSers with much prejudice. It didn’t take me long to learn that they are just as brilliant as all other undergrads of Columbia and bring in a vibrancy like none other to our community. It was such a meaningful and gratifying experience serving the GS community this semester and learning about how rich our community is.

May

Before heading to Ireland, Peter tells us about the good gyms on campus and time management.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Peter James Kiernan, General Studies, Political Science, Babylon, New York

Claim to fame: I’m that guy who did the 6mm campaign to get Trump to release his tax returns, I’m also one of the few GS students to be a varsity athlete. #GSgrandpa #stillgotit

Where are you going?: I’ll be knocking out my master’s degree in Ireland courtesy of the Mitchell Scholarship.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2021?1) Life is all about how you prioritize your time, so pick 3 things and focus on them. (Usually, academics is one, and a social life or relationship is two, be careful with the third)2) “You learn more from the misses than you do the hits,” if you are not failing at anything you’re not pushing yourself far enough out of your comfort zone. For every one success I’ve had, I’ve racked up about 10 failures.3) Being an athlete is the secret way to get access to all of the good gyms (there’s more than a couple).

“Back in my day…” Jeb Bush was a staunch conservative.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer. I’m just trying to save the world one political problem at a time. Cautiously optimistic about the human condition and representative democracy.

What was your favorite class at Columbia? Poetics of the Warrior changed my life.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? I should probably cut down on the calories anyway..

One thing to do before graduating: Jump off the “C rock” up by the stadium and boat house.

Any regrets? Not being around more for my friends and the people who love me.

May

If you’re an English major facing a literature exam, or a classics major facing an astronomy exam, or any other writing-heavy humanities major facing any other kind of exam, there’s a decent chance you’re currently panicking about it. This is pretty understandable – you’ve trained yourself to make arguments in Word documents at 2 am, not in little blue books, and test-taking is a skill best honed with practice. To help assuage your despair, resident science/humanities double major Betsy Ladyzhets has some studying advice.

1. Re-type all of your notes. By not only reading through your lecture (or seminar) notes, but also re-typing them, you’ll really engage with the material. If your notes are sparse (or if you tended to take a brief nap around forty minutes into every class), find a friend to share notes with.

2. Make flashcards. Tons of flashcards. Mounds of flashcards. Mountains of flashcards. Every class can be a flashcard class if you believe it can. You can use up all of the paper in Butler to do this, or, if you’d rather not cramp up your wrist, use Quizlet.

Claim to fame: Hitting the trifecta of cultural, religious, and political organizing under MSA, Turath, and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. Doing some inflammatory arts and crafts my freshman year, putting those crafting skills to further good use as your RA.

Where are you going? Back home. Both to Palestine to visit + see family, and New Jersey to settle :3

May

Bwogline: Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified to senators regarding her warning about former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s potential connections to Russia. (Washington Post)

Study Tip: The app Forest (available on the App Store) is a helpful way to get you to stay off your phone for more than a few minutes at a time to help you study!

Music: Whether you’re packing your stuff go home for the summer, saying goodbye to this place forever, or merely wishing you were done, enjoy this NSYNC throwback.

Procrastination Tip: If you’re already in Butler for studying, find a book you’ve been meaning to read (for fun) and check that out! Read it every time you don’t feel like studying so that at least you feel productive.

Overheard: “It’s not that I didn’t cite anything, it’s just that I didn’t read any of it.”